Page 10 - RusRPTDec20

2.3 ​ ​MOSCOW BLOG: What to do in the next decade? The Kremlin and the people are confused and unsure
1. The authorities do not have a clear picture of the future, but society does not formulate its wishes too clearly, not to mention the ways to achieve the set goals. In loyalist and traditionalist-minded groups, projective thinking is especially poorly developed. In this, in addition to ideological differences, they differ from the “liberal” respondents, who more clearly describe their preferences and the image of a democratic free Russia, often relying on the retrospective standard of the Russian Federation of the Yeltsin era. The “loyalists” and “traditionalists” find models of the future mainly in the historical precedents of the socialist project.
2. All focus group participants noted the uncertainty of the prospects. At the same time, many respondents, despite serious differences in political views, were pessimistic about the future of Russia.
3. Even those who voted for the "zeroing" of the presidential term of office, in the majority are NOT ardent supporters of Putin and associate possible changes with his departure. They voted for the Constitution in a purely mechanical and ritualistic way, considering it their duty to support the government's proposals. Anti-Putin sentiments are what often unite (for different reasons, of course) "traditionalists" and "liberals". The motive of fatigue from the president, who has been ruling the country for more than 20 years, was predominant in the sentiments of the respondents who participated in the focus groups: if changes begin, it will most likely be after Putin's departure.
4. "Loyalists" and "Traditionalists": make a demand for an even more significant than under Putin, an increase in the role of the state in the economy - up to the complete nationalization of all enterprises; insist on continuing the interventionist foreign policy; put an equal sign between the development of the country and the restoration of Soviet territories.
They are characterized by adherence to statism and paternalism in the most extreme and archaic manifestations.
5. A liberal project is: compact state-arbiter, state-service (as the respondents expressed it, "state is software"); free competitive economy; an independent court; friendly business environment; fair competitive elections; free civil society, separated from the state; openness to the world.
You can, of course, evaluate such a "program" as declarative. But these statements belong not to liberal ideologists, but to the most ordinary citizens of Russia, who, moreover, each time substantiated their point of view.
10 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ December 2020 www.intellinews.com